Not for the first time, the talented Jersey youngster overcame a star Sarnian player – in this case Jason Allez – in the final.
Previous winner Allez lost 5-2 in front of a decent supporting crowd at Northfield after a classy opponent denied him from getting back into the game.
The standard was consistently high with 180s logged by both players, but Bell went above and beyond in hitting three maximums.
From an initial 3-1 deficit, Allez won the following leg before his opponent made a big break with a 180 in the sixth, and Bell struck two early tons to prevent his inter-island rival from clawing it back in the seventh.
'When he plays like that, he is on another level and unstoppable,' Allez said.
'I enjoyed the game, even though I lost.'
Organiser Adam Gontier complimented Bell’s ‘excellent’ darts throughout, together with Allez, who had knocked out a sequence of Guernsey's star players – culminating in Mark Fletcher jnr – simply to make the final.
‘Jason was very deserving,’ he said.
‘Anyone who was going to come across Lewis, it was going to be a big ask to beat him.
‘Jason had the toughest of toughest draws to come through.
‘Big hats off to everybody – they all put a big shift in and there were some exceptional darts.’
This was always the risk organiser Adam Gontier had taken in including eight Caesareans among his elite 32 at Northfield.
Guernsey’s presence into the invitational tournament consisted largely of the representative team that played Jersey in the spring, while much like Bell’s last winning year of 2024, the Caesareans were out in force. The tournament ended up being a who’s who of Channel Island men’s darts.
‘I want Jersey players coming over,’ Gontier said.
‘They sent a strong field this year.
‘We had 24 players from Guernsey, which could have easily had another seven, eight players in there that could have made it.
‘But I just stuck with my game plan with the Island team.’
Friday night’s groups proved especially unpredictable.
There had been eight groups of four, with only the top two in each to qualify, and some quality players failed to clear this first hurdle.
In Group A, Aaron Billien qualified top and Jersey’s Dave Parlby achieved a victory in the final game to join him, with Island manager Shaun Allez and a win-less Jerry Baguio both being notable casualties.
Group B saw a shock exit for Nick Ferreira, who was among the top prospects for the tournament but lost decisively to eventual qualifier Billy Foreman in five legs, while Series of Darts champion Michael Ogier won all three of his games to go top.
Although Jason Allez progressed through Group C unbeaten, a tight three-way battle raged on behind him, from which Neil Hutchinson ultimately qualified on countback.
Bell overcame organiser and three-time champion Gontier in four legs to secure top spot in Group D, where both also achieved 3-0 wins against strong youngsters from Guernsey. These were Jarod Carrington and Adam’s son Morgan Gontier.
Adie Exall won Group E but second spot went down to head-to-head record, which ultimately gave Mick Marsh the nod over Paul Wall.
Leyton de la Mare pinched top spot from Lewis’ dad Sid Bell in Group F following a 3-2 victory in their duel.
Mick Le Gallic won all three of his Group G games, with Lee Savident securing second after a 3-2 edging of rival Kyle Hutchinson.
In Group H, Carl Gauvain came through unbeaten as the first qualifier, leaving Fletcher jnr settling for second.
Jersey’s young Oliver Mulcahy had claimed an impressive 3-0 win against veteran Phil Dodd but fell to Fletcher in four legs and so could not complete an against-the-odds qualification.
‘It goes to show, players like Billy Foreman and Mick Marsh, it’s their first time playing in it and they qualified from two very, very strong groups,’ Gontier said.
‘I think obviously the biggest casualty of the group stage was Nick Ferreira going out.
‘But, you know, looking at some of the results, Mark Fletcher could have gone out the group in his final game.
‘There so many people that turned it around.’
Many of the round-of-16 matches went the seven-leg distance.
This included Mick Le Gallic almost falling to the in-form Foreman, against whom he squeezed through 4-3, Fletcher edging past Billien, and Jason Allez taking out Leyton de la Mare in a similarly close clash of two titans.
A merciless Lewis eliminated his own father, Sid Bell, in the quarter-finals.
This came as Gontier’s own run came to an end against Allez, while Fletcher overcame Le Gallic, and Gauvain beat Savident.
The semi-finals included a thrilling battle between two of Guernsey’s leading players, Allez and Fletcher, which also had 180s on both sides.
Allez fell behind 3-1 but rallied hard, including a 122 check-out, to equalise and ultimately prevailed 5-3 to take the domestic bragging rights.
Bell qualified in less troubled fashion, even against a strong and sometimes spectacular opponent in Gauvain, winning 5-1.
The 20-year-old’s victory in the final earned him over half of the considerable £1,200 prize pot for this year’s Grand Slam.
There will be more cash up for grabs later this month when Gontier hosts the Slam, a relatively new, second-tier tournament aimed at players who did not compete at the weekend, with a cohort from the women’s Island team also invited.
